Mayor Charlie Hales and Commissioner Steve Novick are considering delaying a vote on a proposed street fee for Portland residents scheduled for Wednesday, according to two City Hall sources with knowledge of the situation.

City officials are expecting an announcement on Tuesday.

After last Thursday's 5 1/2 hour public hearing on the street fee proposal, all signs still pointed to a Wednesday vote on the ordinance, which would create a fee on all residences starting in July 2015. But public concerns appear to be driving backers of the street fee to reconsider that time frame.

View full sizePortland Mayor Charlie Hales, Commissioner Amanda Fritz and Commissioner Steve Novick on May 29 during a 5 1/2 hour City Council hearing about the proposed street fee.Andrew Theen/The Oregonian

Last week, Novick and Hales put the business and residential portions of the fee on separate tracks. The business fee, they said, was more complex and needed more time to refine how the city would specifically charge businesses. The duo set a timeline of November to take action on the business portion of the fee, or the residential fee, if enacted would be voided. Other government agencies such as Metro, Multnomah County, the Port of Portland and TriMet, would pay the fee.

But the residential fee was still expected to go for a City Council vote on Wednesday. If approved, officials said citizens would still have enough time to take the issue to a November referendum. The fee would bring in an estimated $40 million in net revenue during the first five years, according to city figures.

Hales and Novick needed just one of their City Council colleagues to sign off on the plan, which would charge homeowners a monthly fee, with discounts for apartment residents and low-income households. Commissioner Nick Fish and Dan Saltzman said they'd prefer to see the street fee go before voters. Commissioner Amanda Fritz is the swing vote on the issue.

Hales campaigned on a back to the basics approach, and he and Novick both described the street fee as a tough call but the correct one in addressing the long-documented disinvestment in Portland streets.

It's unclear what a potential delay would mean for the previously stated July 2015 deadline when residents and business would begin paying the street fee.